Hawaii Film Critics Society 2016 Nominees List

The Hawaii Film Critics Society has once again cast their votes and nominated a broad range of films for their year’s end list. Damien Chazelle’s beloved, Ryan Gosling/Emma Stone-starring musical “La La Land” led the charge with thirteen nominations, more than any other film (in fact, last year’s most nominated title, “Carol,” only received ten). “Moonlight,” the acclaimed art house drama from Barry Jenkins, received seven nominations. A couple of Amy Adams-starring films, the cerebral sci-fi “Arrival,” and the shocking drama “Nocturnal Animals,” tied with eight nominations each. The neo-western “Hell or High Water,” followed with five nominations, while Martin Scorsese’s “Silence” and the Natalie Portman-starring “Jackie” were tied with four nominations each.

The films selected were all over the map. While the Polynesian-themed Disney feature “Moana” received four nominations, so did the bizarre, love-it-or-hate-it art house horror “The Neon Demon.” Other dark horse selections include three nominations for “10 Cloverfield Lane,” three nominations for “The Witch” and two nominations for “Deadpool.” Other out-of-left field picks included two nominations for the Ryan Gosling/Russell Crowe dark comedy “The Nice Guys” and for Park Chan-Wook’s “The Handmaiden.”

In the category for Best Hawaii Film, the nominees are “Moana” and the locally made documentary “Shorebreak: The Clark Little Story.”

The Hawaii-based critics group, which was founded in February 2015, will vote on the nominees selected and publish a list of winners on January 13th, 2017.